Dad shot dead while retrieving stolen son’s cap from group of bullies

A father has been shot and killed after he attempted to take his son's cap back from a group of bullies who stole it.

Gerald Cummings, 38, was killed on Wednesday night after his son, Gerald Sealey, 17, called to tell him the people who stole his hat were at the basketball court next to Public School 6 on Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn.

Sealey had the cap - an Oakland Raiders Don C hat - taken from him by a 16-year-old on Saturday, the New York Daily News reports.

When Cummings arrived at the courts on Wednesday about 10:15pm, he took the cap - worth as much as $400 online - back so he could give it to his teenage son.

Police say after the 38-year-old took it, the 16-year-old tried to snatch it back from him unsuccessfully. One of the alleged robber's friends then pulled a gun from his bag and opened fire on Cummings - killing him in front of his son.

He was rushed to Kings County Hospital, but died of gunshot wounds to the head and back.

A long-time friends said Cummings died doing 'what any father would do'.

'All he did was confront the kids that beat up his son — and lost his life in the process of defending his child,' Earl Saunders told the NYDN.

'We're all grieving.'

Police have not been able to identify the 16-year-old who first took Sealey's cap, or the person who shot and killed Cummings reports dailymail.co.uk.